George Clooney Says Meghan Markle Is "Vilified and Chased" by Media Like Princess Diana

The actor — a friend of the Duchess of Sussex — warned of "history repeating itself."

George Clooney has attacked the tabloid press for its relentless pursuit of new royal Meghan Markle, claiming that she is being "vilified and chased" in the same way Princess Diana was in the 1990s.

The star – a close friend of the Duchess of Sussex and one of the many celebrity guests at her wedding to Prince Harry in 2019 – was speaking to Australian magazine Who, and warned of the consequences of the press' growing scrutiny of the expectant couple.

“I do want to say, they’re just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere,” he said. “She’s a woman who is seven months pregnant and she has been pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was, and it’s history repeating itself. We’ve seen how that ends.”

The British royal family's often fraught relationship with the press appeared to have simmered in recent years, with the wedding at Windsor Castle being a source of celebration. But despite news of Markle's pregnancy (she's due in spring), the coverage has become increasingly critical, with numerous column inches dedicated to her relationship with her estranged father.

Prince Harry's mother Princess Diana famously died in 1997 in a car crash in Paris while being chased by paparazzi photographers on motorbikes.